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Coverage of the Installation of the 7th Prime Bishop of the PNCC

From WNEP-Scranton: Scranton Bishop to Lead Polish National Catholic Church in U.S.

 

Parishioners at Saint Stanislaus Polish National Catholic Church are making sure everything is spotless. A new national leader will be installed Sunday and he’s one of their own.

“The enormity of being entrusted, people that trust you to say well we want you to lead our church, that’s a very humbling thing too, that people put that kind of trust in you,” said Prime Bishop-elect Anthony Mikovsky.

He will be in charge of 25,000 members of the Polish National Catholic Church across the United States. He was elected by other church leaders and members last month at a gathering in Canada.

Folks at Saint Stanislaus couldn’t be happier about the decision.

“He brings the spiritual aspects of the gospel to us all the time and we just enjoy listening to him,” said Arlene Swantek of Scranton.

Since the Polish National Catholic Church was founded in Scranton and the new prime bishop is from Scranton, he will be staying in town.

Mikovsky’s goals is to get more people involved.

“A lot of people even of my own age, in their 30s and 40s kind of disengage from the church, to realize that community is necessary in their lives and faith is necessary in their lives,” said Prime Bishop-elect Mikovsky.

Parishioners think he will have no problem getting the job done.

“Because he is so unflappable. I think he will remain calm and make rational decisions,” said Josephine Kwiatkowski of Taylor.

The installation ceremony starts at 3 p.m. Sunday at Saint Stanislaus in south Scranton and is open to the public.

From The Times Tribune: PNCC Prime Bishop Mikovsky prepares for installation Sunday in Scranton

On Sunday, Prime Bishop Anthony Mikovsky will take part in a ceremonial transition of leadership in the Polish National Catholic Church that he has witnessed before, but this time his hand will be on the crozier.

The 44-year-old prelate, who was elected to the Scranton-based church’s highest post in October, will be installed as the seventh prime bishop in a 3 p.m. ceremony and Mass in front of an anticipated crowd of 600 people at St. Stanislaus Cathedral.

The prime bishop, a mathematician, has spent his 13-year priesthood in Scranton, first as an assistant pastor, then as bishop of the Central Diocese, which stretches from Albany, N.Y., to Washington, D.C., but has its seat in the city.

Dual roles

Until February, when Bishop John Mack will arrive to lead the Central Diocese and the pastorate of St. Stanislaus, Prime Bishop Mikovsky will serve his old and new roles simultaneously.

Although he has been an active Polish National Catholic all his life, he joked during an interview in the St. Stanislaus rectory on Thursday that “I pray with a lot more fervor and urgency now.”

“There’s certainly a lot to worry about being in charge of a denomination and being in charge of souls as well.”

The 113-year-old denomination includes about 25,000 members. It is a family that Prime Bishop Mikovsky hopes to grow and invigorate during his tenure.

“The best way to accomplish that goal is to get people to be more actively involved in church,” he said. “That doesn’t just mean showing up on Sunday. That’s part of it. But to get people to think in a religious way, a moral way.”

In recent years, as the population has dwindled in older ethnic communities, the denomination has developed new parishes in places like Texas, especially by welcoming new immigrants whose experiences are not unlike those of the Polish immigrants who founded the church.

The church, which has a democratic constitution and a deep lay involvement in its governance, is also inviting to people who “cherish Catholic belief and Catholic practice but want to participate in that in a way in which they can be more involved,” he said.

Link to the past

Prime Bishop Emeritus Robert Nemkovich, who will preside over the installation on Sunday before he begins his retirement in Florida in December, said the democratic ideals that helped form the denomination in the 1890s are the same ideals that keep it vital, and make it appealing, today.

“In today’s society, it’s right on,” he said.

Prime Bishop Nemkovich, 67, who was too old by church law to run for a second eight-year term as prime bishop, said Prime Bishop Mikovsky is both “young and energetic” and “very capable and qualified” for the position.

“It’s an awesome responsibility, I told him, to serve God and his people as prime bishop,” he said, recounting his advice to his friend and colleague over the last few weeks. “He has to remember that he is the first among equals. He is not infallible. And that he needs to seek the guidance of the Lord every day.”

From WBRE & WYOU: New Prime Bishop in Polish National Catholic Church

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY – It is going to be a big weekend in Lackawanna County. The Polish National Catholic Church, which was founded in Scranton, is getting ready to install its new Prime Bishop.

Anthony Mikovsky will be installed on Sunday afternoon. He’s been a bishop in his church’s Scranton diocese for the last four years. He’s also served as a priest locally for the last 14 years.

“I’m very humbled by this all the way around,” Mikovsky said sitting inside Saint Stanislaus Church Thursday morning.

He will lead more than 25,000 parishoners.

“You have awesome responsibility and it is very humbling that all these people put their trust in you,” Mikovsky said.

Mikovsky was elected as Prime Bishop last month. He says his goals will be to get more young people involved in the church and connect with all parishoners outside of church.

“I think sometimes, especially church leaders, can be a little stand-offish from their congregations and that is unfortunate,” Mikovsky said.

People who know the Prime Bishop-Elect say Mikovsky is the right man for the job. They say he’s smart and has a great preaching ability.

“He has a big booming voice. This is a big cathedral and where I would need a microphone to be heard half-way down, he comes up in the middle of church and he preaches with fire and you can’t fall asleep during his sermons,” Father Jason Soltysiak said.

While Mikovsky’s new role will have him travelling more, he’ll still primarily live in Scranton. He says he’s going to try to get people in the Polish National Catholic Church to work together.

“We have to work together in the church, at this level we need to do it and we need to do it at all levels,” Mikovsky said.

Mikovsky will be formally installed on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM. More than 600 people from across the country are expected to attend.

Christian Witness, PNCC,

Mohawk Valley Seniorate Meeting

On October 30th, I joined with other Polish National Catholic clergy and laity at Good Shepherd Parish in Amsterdam, NY for an annual meeting of the Mohawk Valley Seniorate Council. For those who do not know, a Seniorate consists of a number of parishes grouped by geographic region. The Mohawk Valley Seniorate is one of five in the Central Diocese which is headquartered in Scranton, PA. The Seniorate is comprised of PNCC Parishes in Latham, Schenectady, Amsterdam, Little Falls, New York Mills, Rome, and Syracuse, New York. The clergy of the Seniorate are under the supervision of the Very Rev. Walter Madej.

Approximately 20 people attended the October 30th meeting which was held in the Good Shepherd parish hall following morning prayer. Various concerns about declining participation and increasing costs were discussed as were the many successes we share. Many of the problems faced by the PNCC are similar to those in other Christian faith communities. The democratic distinctiveness of the PNCC allows small parishes to work together in maintaining their presence, and in evangelizing their area. It was a pleasure to be joined by the members of the Catholic Community of St. Johnsville, New York. They formed a cohesive community and sought the assistance of the PNCC so as to maintain a Catholic presence in their town. Also, we were informed of the growth in vocations to the diaconate across the Mohawk Valley. An added treat, the excellent lunch provided by the people of Good Shepherd. Whenever Good Shepherd Parish has a food sale or dinner I am sure to go, and go early because it is always sold out.

Delegates attending the Mohawk Valley Seniorate meeting

Many of those in attendance will be joining other members of the PNCC, as well as friends, guests, and political and ecumenical dignitaries at the upcoming installation of the 7th Prime Bishop of the PNCC, the Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Mikovsky, who was elected at the 23rd Synod of the PNCC in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada in early October.

Other future events include:

  • The National Mission and Evangelism Workshop, May 13-14, 2011 to be held at Holy Family Parish in McKeesport, PA.
  • The National Bowling Tornament, May 20-21, 2011 to be held in Parma, OH, hosted by St. Mary’s Parish.
  • The Central Diocesan Acolyte Retreat, June 28 – July 1, 2011 at the Bishop Hodur Retreat and recreation Center in Waymart, PA.
  • The KURS Youth Encampment, July 2-9, 2011 at the Bishop Hodur Retreat and recreation Center in Waymart, PA.
  • The annual Fourth of July Holy Mass and Picnic, July 4, 2011 at the Bishop Hodur Retreat and recreation Center in Waymart, PA.
  • The National United Choirs Convention, July 27-30, 2011 hosted by St. Stanislaus Cathedral, Scranton, PA.
  • The National YMSofR Track and Field Meet/Zlot, September 3, 2011 at YMSofR Park, Minooka, PA.
Christian Witness, Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , ,

The faith divide and a giant Jesus in Poland

From The Guardian: Poland’s faith divide: Ignited by the Smolensk crash, bitter tensions have emerged between Poland’s Catholics and liberal secularists

When 96 Polish dignitaries, including President Lech Kaczyński, were killed in a plane crash near Smolensk in April, the world briefly turned its gaze to Poland and its often tragic history. The victims were travelling to a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre – the murder of some 20,000 Poles by the Soviet secret police in 1940. The two tragedies became fused in the public imagination, reviving old anti-Russian prejudices and seeing the memorials to Katyn across Poland become the focus of fresh mourning. But the events that followed, and their consequences for Poland’s religious culture, have been little-covered in western Europe. The last six months have seen a bitter controversy emerge, raising serious questions about the place of religion in Polish public life.

Despite its image as one of the most homogeneously Catholic countries in Europe, Poland’s early history was one of religious diversity, with large Jewish and Orthodox populations, and the later founding of the Uniate church, making for a variety of traditions. The Warsaw Confederation of 1573 formalised a religious tolerance that had long been in existence and which had seen the country become a refuge for Protestants. The violence and extremism of the Reformation was hardly seen in Poland, and the country gained a reputation as an intellectual powerhouse in eastern Europe. With the arrival of the Jesuits in the late 16th century, however, the country experienced increasing Catholic dominance. The 1724 Tumult of Toruń, when Protestants ransacked a Jesuit collegium and were horribly executed for defiling Catholic images, marked a waning of religious tolerance. Finally, when Poland was carved up by competing empires in the late 18th century, Catholicism became a surrogate for nationalism in a fragmented country. It is the legacy of this that the country still deals with today.

The “cross controversy” that followed the Smolensk crash and dominated Polish headlines this summer was evidence of the intimate intertwining of Polish national identity and Catholic devotion. Threats to remove the large cross set up in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw as a memorial to the pro-church Kaczyński brought out conservative Catholic protestors in force. Styling themselves as “cross-defenders” and “true Poles”, they staged a round-the-clock vigil at a makeshift shrine. For a full month they could be found there kneeling in prayer, or blasting patriotic songs from a tinny stereo, holding their hands aloft in the victory sign that came to symbolise the Solidarność-led freedom movement in communist-era Poland.

The shrine provided a snapshot of the essence of contemporary Polish Catholic culture. Images of Pope John Paul II, Saint Faustina’s Christ of the Divine Mercy, Father Jerzy Popiełuszko and Our Lady of Czestochowa appeared alongside photos of Kaczyński, indicating his rapid transformation into a quasi-religious hero of the Catholic right. Popiełuszko, a political dissident murdered by the communist regime, and the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, mutilated by a Hussite heretic and later the miraculous defeater of invading Swedes, both carry strong messages about heroic Polish resistance to foreign foes and the threats posed to Catholics by unbelievers. Like in the equating of Katyn and Smolensk, historical specificity is erased to make universal symbols of Polish suffering, and at this shrine Catholicism was articulated as the essence of Poland’s history and nationhood.

But the cross controversy’s reaffirmation of conservative Catholic identity was met by an opposing force. Objecting to this overtly religious symbol at the seat of government, secularists and atheists were galvanised into action, staging a rally to call for the removal of the cross. Organised via the Akcja Krzyz (Cross Action) group on Facebook, this protest was dominated by a younger generation who were looking back to Poland’s history of liberalism and the prizing of enlightenment values. With the founding of the Polish Association of Rationalists in 2005, as well as the staging of an atheist “coming out” march in Kraków in October 2009 (repeated to great success just two weeks ago), another strand of Polish identity is emerging.

In mid-September, the Smolensk cross was finally removed. The shrine was cleared away, but the passions that built it are far from diffused and other controversies threaten to reawaken the conflict between conservative Catholics and secularist liberals. The atheist movement continues to grow, and there are also signs of greater religious diversity in the country, with an Islamic cultural centre planned for Warsaw, and more mosques being built across Poland. But hardline Catholic views also remain strong … Meanwhile, in a bold statement of Poland’s Catholic identity, the town of Świebodzin in the west of the country is building the biggest statue of Jesus in the world…

This article covers a lot of territory and hits the highlights of Polish religious and ethnic diversity very well. What Poland had been, for most of its history, was a welcoming and diverse country where the right to freedom of thought and conscience were protected. Much of that changed with the 18th century divisions of Poland. Poles were faced with rabid anti-Polish policies enacted in the German and Russian controlled sections of Poland (nationalism as well as religious and linguistic unity were the protective backlash), policies that pitted one ethnic group against the next in the Austrio-Hungarian controlled territories (which shored up the Empire’s control since the natives were too busy fighting each other to fight against the Empire), the murder of 6 million Catholic and Jewish Poles by Nazi Germany, and the subsequent shifting of borders leading to a more homogenous state. The result of the last 196 years is exactly the national mythos that exists today. Those who understand the longer and wider 1,044 year history of Poland know that it citizens achieve the greatest in human endeavor from diversity.

On the giant Jesus… what upsets me is not the fact of the statue, but the motivations behind it. The great buildings, cathedrals, monuments and such were always constructed to the glory of God and the memory of others. Not so much in this case! Underpaid and cheated workers building a statute to attract tourist money on a shaky foundation; not exactly a tribute to our God and King. Local newspaper editor Waldemar Roszczuk gets it right: “It’s a monster of a statue which has nothing to do with Christian teaching.” Amen!

Christian Witness, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , ,

S+P Henryk Górecki

From the Irish Times: Composer of haunting ‘Symphony of Sorrows’

Henryk Górecki, who has died aged 76, was a Polish composer of classical music whose haunting Third Symphony, the Symphony of Sorrows, drew inspiration from an inscription scrawled on a Nazi prison wall during the second World War.

With its themes of war and separation in a slow, stark style, it became a surprise best-seller following a recording released in 1992 and given much airtime by the UK radio station, Classic FM.

The piece uses simple, spare settings of Polish materials – the late 15th-century Holy Cross Lament, the wartime graffiti and a folksong, and melody and words from the Opole region on Poland’s south-west border. This led some to identify in it a new spirituality filling a God-shaped space in an era bereft of previous certainties.

The 1992 recording by the London Sinfonietta under David Zinman, with the soprano Dawn Upshaw, that achieved international acceptance was written more than 15 years earlier in 1976.

Henryk Górecki was born at Czernica, near Rybnik, in Upper Silesia, near Poland’s coalmining area west of Katowice. His father worked in the goods office at a railway station. His mother died on her son’s second birthday, and the subsequent second World War years were made yet bleaker for Górecki by tubercular complications after a fall.

He worked as a teacher for two years after leaving school in 1951 before taking up regular music studies in Rybnik. After composition lessons in Katowice, he spent the last three months of 1961 in Paris, his first sustained release from the isolation of Katowice. But after his return from Paris, he remained mostly in Katowice, dogged by ill health, though he was in West Berlin for nine months in 1973-74 on a scholarship. From 1975 to 1979 he was rector of Katowice’s music school. Polish folksongs became a much more integral source of inspiration for him and were just as important as his attachment to Polish medieval and Renaissance music.

In the 1960s, he continued to write works that developed the frantic activity, percussive attack and new string techniques of Scontri: first in the Genesis cycle of works (1962-63), then in Refren (Refrain, 1965) for orchestra.

The composer’s First Symphony , subtitled 1959 , had deployed with a vengeance the sonic blocks typical of “texture music”. His Second Symphony was commissioned for the 500th anniversary in 1973 of the birth of the Polish astronomer Copernicus. It sets – in Latin, for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra – texts drawn from Psalms 136 and 146 and from the introduction of Copernicus’s treatise De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium.

Górecki’s embrace of modal materials redolent of their national and religious origins continued with Beatus Vir – psalm settings for baritone, chorus and orchestra…

This personal triumph to some degree offset his treatment at the hands of the communist Party, when he had been airbrushed out of all the records of the Katowice music school for a significant anniversary earlier that year.

…

Not everything that Górecki wrote during the last 30 years of his life was directly inspired by his Catholic faith and meditative style. References to a wide range of other musics – from Beethoven to 20th-century popular idioms – became a notable feature of the composer’s later output.

…

He once described himself as a recluse. He avoided the limelight yet still upset the authorities in other ways from time to time. In using modernist ideas Górecki demonstrated that it was possible for a late 20th-century composer to write music of individuality and substance while simultaneously achieving unusual success.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Political, Work, ,

Jobs scarce, where will the unemployed turn?

The US Department of Labor is reporting that competition for jobs, while improving, remains intense. At the end of September, there were five people looking for work for every job opening, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) Survey released by the U.S. Department of Labor. This number has been gradually decreasing since the end of the recession. Competition for jobs has eased slightly since the end of last year, when there were more than six unemployed people for every job opening. When the recession ended there were 5.8 people searching for jobs for every job opening. However, when the recession began in 2007, there were only 1.8 job-seekers for every job opening.

The Economic Policy Institute, commenting on the JOLT survey, reports that:

The total number of job openings in September was 2.9 million, while the total number of unemployed workers was 14.8 million … This means that the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings was 5.0-to-1 in September, an increase from the revised August ratio of 4.8-to-1. The job-seekers ratio is displaying a similar trend to other labor market data – substantial improvements from late 2009 to the spring of 2010, and then stalling out what are still crisis levels. September’s value, at 5-to-1, is over three times as high as the first half of 2007, when the ratio averaged 1.5-to-1.

It is important to note that the job-seekers ratio does not measure the number of applicants for each job. There may be throngs of applicants for every job posting, since job seekers apply for multiple jobs. Instead, the 5-to-1 ratio means that for every five unemployed workers, there is only one job available — or for every four out of five unemployed workers, there simply are no jobs. Furthermore, when calculating the ratio of job seekers to job openings, if we were to include not just the 14.8 million unemployed workers, but also the 9.5 million “involuntarily part-time” workers (part-time workers who want and are available for a full-time job, and are therefore likely job searching), the ratio would be 8.3-to-1.

In the current environment it is essentially important that we shore up the support for those ready, willing, and able to work. This is the exact support that the workers in the United States need. If Congress fails to continue the extensions in the unemployment programs, 2 million people will be left with no income in December alone, just in time for Christmas. Over the following four months there will be up to 6 million people without job opportunities and without income. They will not be paying rent, taxes, or shopping in local businesses. They will become a drain on already overtaxed state welfare systems, and more people will loose jobs because of the ripple effect this loss of income will have — up to 700,000 more people losing their jobs!

Contact Congress today and urge continuation and further extension of benefits for the very people who want a job, not a hand-out.

Christian Witness, Events, Political, Work, , , , , ,

Criminal business enterprises steal wages

National Day of Action Against Wage Theft on Thursday, November 18th

  • 60 percent of nursing homes steal workers’ wages.
  • 78 percent of restaurants in New Orleans steal workers’ wages.
  • 100 percent of poultry plants steal workers’ wages.
  • Wage theft is too big a crime to solve?

Except for the last one, the numbers are all true. Imagine being robbed at the street corner when you have just enough money to get you through the day. Now, picture that happening to you day in and day out.

Unfortunately for too many workers, especially those in low-wage jobs, being robbed is a reality they face every day — at their own work place.

Billions of dollars are stolen from millions of workers each year, often forcing them to choose between paying the rent or putting food on the table.

Wage theft affects not only the workers and their families, but also robs from the government’s tax coffers, resulting in cutbacks of vital services. Wage theft also puts ethical employers at a competitive disadvantage and can destroy community businesses, as working families cannot spend wages they haven’t received. Wage theft hurts everyone!

On November 18, individuals and groups in more than 50 cities across the country will take action against wage theft. Please join in calling attention to this epidemic and mobilizing support for the various efforts to combat it, from new national legislation to creative local initiatives.

Wage theft is a crime we can solve. In the past year, there have been local victories that have impacted the lives of workers. A couple of months ago, two new pieces of legislation were introduced, one to curtail worker misclassification and one to strengthen community anti-wage theft programs. The time to join in and take action is now. Lend your voice and speak up for justice.

What Can You do on the National Day of Action?

Take Action Against a Wage Theft Perpetrator:

  • Conduct a bus tour of unethical businesses that steal wages
  • Organize a group to confront an employer to pay his workers; flyer the business’ customers
  • Hold a prayer vigil
  • Plan an action at a non-union contractor or employer that is stealing wages and undercutting union companies.

Host a “Know Your Rights” Educational Workshop with Workers

Highlight Local Ordinance or State Law Campaigns/Victories

  • Organize press events with legislation sponsors
  • Lead an educational forum

Highlight the Need for National Anti-Wage Theft Legislation

  • Lead a delegation of workers and faith leaders to your Representative
  • Hold a press conference with your elected leaders

Announce a New Initiative Against Wage Theft

  • Attorneys can file a new lawsuit
  • Politicians can announce new initiatives

Academics can report on new wage theft survey results

…and Sign this Peition. Help stop Wage Theft- Workers should get the pay they’ve earned.

Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, Political, , , ,

The real unemployment crisis to come

At the end of November, slews of unemployed persons will be cut off from unemployment benefits when emergency federal extensions end.

It is important to recall that unemployment benefits are not an entitlement program or a form of welfare. Unemployment is an insurance program that tides folks over through temporary periods of unemployment. It allows them to maintain their dignity and the basics of life so that they may be best prepared to re-enter the job market (it is a lot harder to get re-hired if you haven’t had a shower or a decent meal in weeks, or are living out of the back seat of your car). It is also a program that requires the active participation of beneficiaries in job searches, skills readiness training, and other such programs that best prepare them for re-employment.

Unfortunately, every recent recession has seen an increase in the time necessary for a jobs recovery. This recession has been by far the worst. The chart below shows the relatively fast jobs recovery following past recessions. Jobs recoveries began to lengthen with the 1981 recession.

There is no jobs recovery right now, and many of the jobs unemployed persons lost will never come back. Many have already received a full 99 weeks of benefits. Many will need significant retraining to prepare for new jobs. With the November cut-off, others will never get that far. In the following article, the National Employment Law Project projects that 1.2 million people are faced with a November 30th cut-off. The question is, how will they and their families eat, how will their rents be paid, how will they prepare for jobs if they become homeless and transient? As Christians, and particularly members of the PNCC which has a long history of advocacy for workers, we need to ask those questions and make our voices heard so that those who are ready, willing, and able to work are not abandoned.

From NELP: Some 1.2 Million Jobless Workers Will Lose UI Benefits if No Extension, Report Says

About 1.2 million jobless workers will lose emergency unemployment insurance benefits if Congress fails to extend the benefits again by Nov. 30, according to a report released Oct. 22 by the National Employment Law Project.

The 10-page report found that of those 1.2 million workers, 387,000 are workers who were recently laid off and are now receiving six months of regular state benefits.

“These are people who have been laid off through no fault of their own and are desperately looking for jobs, but would be snapped from the lifeline of jobless benefits just as the holiday season kicks into high gear,” said NELP executive director Christine Owens. “Congress will have to act fast when it reconvenes to avoid a catastrophe. The clock is ticking.”

California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York top the list of states that would face the most cutoffs, according to the report.
Report Findings

The report includes the following findings:

  • Since the unemployment insurance program was created in response to the Great Depression, Congress has never cut federally funded jobless benefits when unemployment was this high for this long (over 9 percent for 17 consecutive months).
  • Businesses and the struggling economy—especially the retail sector—will take “a major blow” if Congress fails to continue the federal jobless benefits during the holiday shopping season.
  • In 2009, the increase in the number of people in poverty would have doubled were it not for unemployment insurance benefits.
  • With the average unemployment extension weekly check of $290 replacing only half of the average family’s expenditures on transportation, food, and housing, jobless workers have a major incentive to look for work.
  • The 51-day lapse of the federal UI extension program this summer caused substantial hardship for many of the more than 2.5 million unemployed workers cut off from benefits.

“Cutting unemployed job seekers off the extended unemployment benefits they need and have counted on receiving is hard any time, but doing so around Thanksgiving and the ensuing holidays is especially harsh—and counterproductive,” Owens said.

In New York, per the Department of Labor (my employer), 190,000 will be loosing benefits immediately:

NY state prepares for end of jobless benefits: New York state prepares for end to extended unemployment benefits; Congress controls fate

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York is preparing for the possibility that an extra 190,000 residents could lose emergency unemployment insurance benefits at year’s end if Congress fails to act next week, state Labor Commissioner Colleen Gardner said Friday.

“This is no time to cut off benefits,” Gardner said. “We still have a job market where there’s only one job opening for every five people looking for work.

“We estimate that for every dollar invested in unemployment insurance benefits, close to $2 is spent in every local economy,” she added in a conference call with reporters. “That’s especially important between now and the end of the year as the holiday time approaches.”

More than 100,000 New Yorkers already have exhausted their emergency benefits. Some 30 percent of those have tapped public assistance, typically food stamps and sometimes the Medicaid health care program for the poor, Gardner said.

An additional 190,000 state residents could lose out by Jan. 1 or around 400,000 by May 1, she said.

Republicans in Congress want spending cuts of $5 billion to $6 billion a month as a condition for extending emergency benefits scheduled to expire in December. Up to 2 million people could lose the benefits if the Democratic-controlled Congress doesn’t act in the postelection lame-duck session.

Jobless people are eligible for up to 99 weeks of benefits in most states. The first 26 weeks are paid by states. About 3.7 million draw them now.

Democrats argue that the extended benefits should be paid for with deficit spending because it injects money into the economy. Jobless people immediately spend the cash, they explain. But Republicans note that the government had to borrow 37 cents of every dollar it spent last year, and it’s time to draw the line.

From a Call to Action by IWJ (please sign the NELP Petition to Congress):

The good news for the new unemployment numbers: The economy added 151,000 jobs last month. The bad news: Official unemployment remained at 9.6 of the work force. Long-term unemployment continues to affect almost 42 percent of the nation’s 14.8 million jobless workers, according to the National Employment Law Project. The average spell of joblessness grew to 33.9 weeks in October, the worst since the government began collectinmg this data in the 1950s.

But, it’s one thing to talk about numbers and quite another to remember living human beings: unemployed workers and their families who are suffering severely. Every day, untold numbers of unemployed workers are asking: How can I feed my family? How can I buy the medicine to heal my sick child? How can I pay the mortgage? How?

On November 30th jobless benefit extensions expire. Unless Congress acts to extend benefits for another year, two million workers will be cut off next month alone and any brief extensions will still put millions at risk of cut-offs next year. Not only would this be catastrophic for millions of families; it would deny struggling businesses needed revenue during the rapidly approaching holiday season and beyond.

We can’t let this happen! Please call your Senators and Representative 202-224-3121 to urge them to extend jobless benefits for another year. Please tell your relatives and friends to call also.

It doesn’t matter whether your members of congress were elected, defeated or didn’t run last week. They are still your representatives now and need to hear your voices loud and clear.

And then join tens of thousands by signing this online petition to Congress:

The holidays will soon be here. Our joint efforts can make the difference between a season devoid of hope and joy for so many or a renewed sense that in the midst of pain there is a glimmer of light on the other side.

Christian Witness, PNCC, , , ,

Vocations: a growth sector

A story in the US News and World Report: 20 Industries Where Jobs Are Coming Back notes that jobs in religious and charitable institutions (with vocations being the largest share of jobs in that sectors) is among the top 20 areas with job growth. In fact, that sector has shown growth since before the recession began.

If you’ve been paying close attention to the economy and you’re inclined to look on the bright side, well, finally there is one.

As President Obama has been eager to point out, the private sector has been adding jobs for several months in a row. It’s still way too early to declare the return of prosperity, since nearly 15 million Americans remain unemployed and some key industries are still mired in recession. But the good news is finally starting to outweigh the bad, and economists hope that a virtuous cycle will soon replace a culture of gloom: Gradual hiring eventually makes consumers more optimistic, and as they spend more, business confidence grows as well. If that happens, companies are likely to keep on hiring.

Everybody wants to know where the jobs are, of course, so I analyzed data from the Department of Labor on employment levels in dozens of industries over the last three years. In most industries, the trend is similar: Job losses have stopped, but hiring hasn’t really picked up. So I looked for industries that have shown a notable increase in jobs over the last year.

In most of these fields, total employment is still far below the levels at the end of 2007, when the recession began. That illustrates how far we need to go until the economy is truly healthy again. But a recovery has to start somewhere, and these industries are the first to feel a hint of optimism. Here are 20 fields where jobs are starting to return:

…

Religious and nonprofit groups. Donations dipped during the recession, but religious, nonprofit, social, and business organizations have fared okay lately as endowments linked to the stock market have recovered and other sources of funding have stabilized. Clergy—a somewhat recessionproof calling—represent the single largest profession within this group.

Jobs gained in 2010: 56,000

Change since 2007: 9,000 jobs gained

For those seeking, both out of school, on second or third careers, or in retirement, the Savonarola Theological Seminary offers scholarships and other assistance so you can attend.

To find out more about vocations to the diaconate and the priesthood, please contact the Savonarola Theological Seminary of the Polish National Catholic Church, 1031 Cedar Ave, Scranton, PA 18505. School, (570) 961-9288, Office, (570) 343-0100. You may also E-mail me and I will get your E-mail to the right people.

Christian Witness, PNCC

On Veterans’ Day

Remembering my dad and grandpa, both proud to have served, and who were active in their American Legion Post – Adam Plewacki Post No 799 in Buffalo, New York. My grandfather was always there for honor duty service.

My dad in Mainz-Bischofshein
My dad, May 1945, Gernrode, Germany

Therefore the moment will come, and come it must, even as after years of boyhood comes manhood and to “knights” the plow and the hammer, except that, judging from the shaping of human affairs, our heroes, emerging from the cottages of farmers and laborers, or the children of homeless hirelings, will sweat and will spill their blood not for kings, not in the name of popes, not for the privileges and rights of the few or of single classes, as did once our knightly predecessors under Warna, Vienna and Smolensk, but they will go to do battle for their freedom and for the rights of man. — Bishop Franciszek Hodur (as W. Warega) in New Roads (Nowe Drogi), Chapter 6, para. 20 from Hodur, A Compilation of Selected Translations by Theodore L. Zawistowski

Christian Witness, Perspective, , ,

Conversions?

I have been following news of the new Ordinates for Catholics of the Anglican tradition mainly through my reading of articles and links the Young Fogey has posted. I wish these folks well in finding a new home, as I did in the PNCC. I wasn’t fleeing wholesale theological and patristic anarchy as they are, but rather a general weakness in Roman Catholic practice which was a disconnect from all I had learned and knew. It began as an escape, but in the time that passed I realized it had to be a re-evaluation of all I held; it had to be a process of re-education and becoming. That was necessary in order for me to be true to my choice and conscience. I needed to be honest, not just comfortable, rendering more than lip service (Matthew 15:8) to God and the Church. I faced struggles in adapting and in becoming PNCC, and I have to keep old habits and ways of thinking in check to this day.

That said, I offer a few things to consider. I know that the men (AKA bishops) leaving the Anglican Church could care less about my perspective, but here it is:

  • It is a conversion. You will not be who you were, nor will you be able, of good conscience, to believe what you believed or practice what you practiced. You will be able to preserve aspects of your patrimony in liturgies and the cycle of prayer, but even they will change. Do you have it in your heart and mind to accept, defend, and teach all that the Roman Catholic Church teaches? Can you work toward that in good faith and be willing to meet the day when you have to admit that what you were was a falsehood? It will take some time to integrate these things into who you are, but you should really be going in as more than just Anglicans getting rid of women bishops. You cannot resign yourselves to being the Anglican version of “Orthodox in Communion with Rome,” accepting and rejecting teaching as you feel is right. You will trip over this stuff almost every day for the rest of your life — a lot in the beginning.
  • The PNCC experience with many Anglicans has not been good. They rarely make it in the door because they freely admit they want to be Anglican in all ways, but with valid bishops and orders (of course we will not accept those who do not intend to be PNCC). Of those who do convert, many typically revert because we are simply too Catholic for their taste, or they miss home. Learn from those experiences and avoid the pitfall of tying to justify being in a happy place with few “window dressing” concessions. There is no via media. Cognitive dissonance won’t do you or the R.C. Church any good.
  • Can you back the Bishop of Rome as more than that, as your Pope, with full teaching authority and universal jurisdiction, so that when he says, ‘pray it this way,’ you do it that way personal objections notwithstanding? Can you be the new More or Fisher?
  • Can you see past smells, bells, pretty architecture, vestments and the like (externals) to the struggles you will face in the very small communities you will administer, who cannot pay for much, who will similarly struggle against their inbred Protestant ‘I’ll be the judge of that’ way of thinking? They may only be able to afford crappy polyester vestments… what then?
  • Can you get along with the local R.C. Bishop and Diocesan administration who will act more the pope than the pope, pushing you to prove your loyalty by throwing up obstacles and questions every step of the way? You may appear more Catholic than they externally, but they know the system from the inside, and in the R.C. Church the system and its laws can crush you.
  • What do you do when half of those you lead to Rome run back because the trials and work are more than they bargained for? Can you bless them and wish them well in their path to Christ, or will you crucify them as traitors to the cause?
  • Can you bear criticism when you cannot marry a parishioner’s half atheist daughter who hasn’t been to church since she was 14, or cannot baptize her child, or when you cannot give someone an annulment for their 3rd serial marriage, or when you cannot commune some in the congregation? How do you explain all those thorny issues after the glamor of venturing out wears off and reality hits home (pickup Monty Python condom sketch). Can you accept pastoring by Canon Law and the Catechism?
  • You will need to reflect on your choice of staying for as long as you did, accepting unheard-of innovations while holding your nose. People will call you on that. That acceptance will be used against you by R.C. innovators who will point to your acceptance as proof it can be done (as long as the innovations don’t touch you personally). It will also be used against you by ultra-traditionalists who will ask why women bishops became the final straw. Where were your guts when…

There are well wishers, but perhaps they too should be circumspect, looking beyond the initial rush and hype to the reality that awaits. Are you willing to really change? Seek God’s grace — with that and lots of humility and suffering it is possible. It will be interesting to see.

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